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LOUISIANA 




PUBLISHED BY 

THE NEW ORLEANS PROGRESSIVE UNION 



L O U I S I A N A 






Louisiana constitutes a portion of the south- 
western part of the United States. Its parallels 
of latitude are 28° 50' N., and 33° N., with no 
defined south latitudinal line, owing to its ir- 
regular Gulf border. Its meridians of longi- 
tude are 80° 41' W., and 90° 10' W. from Green- 
wich. 

Louisiana contains 45,966 square miles of 
land, and 2,328 square miles of land-locked 
bays, lagoons and rivers. Louisiana soils are 
divided into alluvial lands, sea or coast marsh, 
redeemable by levees and drainage, bluff land, 
prairies, long leaf pines, hill lands and oak 
lands. 

Louisiana has the greatest body of alluvial 
lands existing anywhere in the world. Only a 
small portion of these lands is subject to over- 
flow from the Mississippi. Nearly all are pro- 
tected by magnificent levees, maintained by the 
State and National Governments. 

Louisiana is composed of 28,000,000 acres of 
land, of which only about 5,500,000 acres are 
cultivated, and on these there are yearly pro- 
duced crops valued at nearly $100,000,000. 

Louisiana's CL131ATE is admirable. Breezy 
and cool in summer, mild in winter, healthful 
at all times. The State is not subject to ex- 
tremes of heat in summer or cold in winter. 

Louisiana's PRODUCTS are varied and 
abundant. Sugar, cotton, corn, rice, tobacco, 
oats, wheat, sorghum, jute, hemp, ramie, 
grasses, clovers and forage crops; millet, pota- 
toes, vegetables, oranges, lemons, mandarins, 
olives, figs, and grapes are [)roduced with great 
profit antl little labor. 



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L O UIS I A NA 



a tremendous impetus to manufacturing, par- 
ticularly at New Orleans. 

Louisiana's EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES are 
splendid. Every parish is well provided with 
public schools for both white and colored people; 
tuition free. Industrial schools are at Ruston 
and Lafayette; tuition free. Private schools 
abound in all the small towns. 

Louisiana's STATE UNIVERSITY and AGRI- 
CULTURAL and MECHANICAL COLLEGE is 
an i^p-to-date modern school. Its tuition is 
free. Its faculty is able and large. Its equip- 
ment is new and complete. Its branches are 
numerous. Its courses are thorough. Its (dis- 
cipline is excellent. Its grounds located on the, 
Mississippi River, Baton Rouge, are beautiful 
and the most attractive in the South. 

Louisiana's great college at New Orleans, 
is TULANE UNIVERSITY for boys, and NEW- 
COMB COLLEGE for girls. The Medical, Law 
and Technical departments of the former are 
especially notable. 

Louisiana's STATE NORMAL SCHOOL at 
Natchitoches, is a splendid training school for 
both sexes. It offers untold advantages for a 
scholarly education. 

Louisiana's INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS at Rus- 
ton and Lafayette arc magnificently equipped, 
and domiciled in comfortable and modern build- 
ings. The faculties are energetic, thorough, and 
ample. 

Louisiana's INSTITUTIONS are all modern 
and extensive. She has a magnificent Deaf 
and Duml) Institute, a splendid new Institute 
for the Blind, two large Charity Hospitals, a 



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LOUISIANA 



Soldiers' Home, large and commodious build- 
ings for the Infirm, and an Institution for the 
Colored Blind at Alexandria, Louisiana has 
three State Agricultural Experiment Stations, 
at New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Calhoun. 
All classes are looked after and cared for in 
Louisiana. 

i Louisiana's HEALTH is good. The death 
rate is far below that of many States in the 
Union. 

Louisiana's TOWNS and CITIES are progres- 
sive, thriving, business-like, and anxious to 
welcome in people from other sections. 

Louisiana EXEMPTS FROM TAXATION for- 
eign money sent here for loan and investment 
purposes. 

Louisiana's NEWSPAPERS are patriotic and 
progressive. There are over 200 in the State 
and wield a large influence for the upbuilding 
of the commonwealth. 

Louisiana's PEOPLE are peaceful, courteous, 
generous, liberty-loving, loyal and always ready 
to extend the hand of goodfellowship and hos- 
pitahty to the stranger in her borders. 



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L OU I S I A N A 



CONDENSED INFORMATION ABOUT LOUISIANA 

The Louisiana Territory, after being Under 
Spanish and French rule, through settlement 
and conquest, for over 250 years, was ceded by 
France to the United States on the 30th of 
April, 1803, for $15,000,000. Louisiana was 
admitted as a State in 1812. The State is com- 
posed of fifty-nine parishes or counties, having 
a total population of 1,381,625 in 1900; this is 
rapidly growing. Private lands may be bought 
cheaply, the prices varying according to the 
richness of the soil, improvements, etc. 

HOW TO GET INFORMATION 

Should detailed information concerning any 
particular locality be desired, a letter addressed 
to the Secretary of the NEW ORLEANS PRO- 
GRESSIVE UNION, 528 Camp Street or to any 

of the following organizations in the State, 
will be promptly answered: 

Alexandria, Progressive League 
Athens, Progressive League 
Baton Rouge, Board of Trade. 
Bogalusa, Progressive League 
Bimkie, Commercial Club 
Colfax, Board of Trade 
Covington, Citizens League 
Crowley, Board of Trade 
De Quincey, Commercial Club 
Duson, Progressive Union 
Eunice, Progressive League 
Franklington, Progressive League 
Gueydan, Business League 



L O U I SI A N A 



Louisiana heads all the States of the Union in 
the acreage value of her crops raised. This is 
a census fact. 

Louisiana's FISHING GROUNDS and OYS- 
TER BEDS are famous and furnish the most 
delicious of these luxuries in the world. 

Louisiana is the coming seat of the oyster 
industry of the United States. Her tidal bot- 
toms, the home of the oyster, embrace 4,500,000 
acres — a greater area of oyster waters than have 
Maryland and Virginia combined. 

Louisiana's FORESTS are inexhaustible, mag- 
nificent, and the varieties of her timbers numer- 
ous. They consist of oaks, hickories, ash, elms, 
gums, magnolias, pines, maples, cypress and a 
quantity of others. 

Louisiana has the greatest area of long-leaf 
pine of any State in the Union, and has more 
cypress timber than any other State. She is 
now the second lumber producing State in the 
Union, ranking next to the State of Washington. 

Louisiana's MINERAL WEALTH is attract- 
ing world-wide attention. Louisiana has with- 
in her borders the greatest sulphur mine the 
world has ever seen. It is taken out of the 
earth 98 per cent. pure. 

Louisiana's FUEL OIL fields are unsurpassed 
in the United States. Some of her oil wells 
have a record of 3,000,000 barrels of oil each. 

Louisiana has the greatest deposit of pure 
rock salt in the western hemisphere. It comes 
up 99 per cent. pure. 

Louisiana's NATURAL GAS fields are the 
greatest in the United States and have given 



L O U I S I A N A 



Louisiana's LIVE STOCK consists of sheep, 
horses, hogs, cattle and mules. Her pastures 
are inviting, her waters are pure and refreshing, 
and her cane brakes in winter offer protection 
and forage. 

Louisiana's RAILROADS are extensive, ac- 
commodating, convenient and modern. These 
traverse 5,852.84 miles of territory. Louisiana 
has a Railroad Commission that regulates and 
adjusts rates, fares and charges. 

Louisiana was . the second State in railway 
construction in 1907. She has more navigable 
rivers than any other State, and a greater 
length of navigable waterways than any. It is 
by exploiting and developing her resources, in 
a way that is rapidly pushing her to the front, 
that Louisiana is doing more than her share in 
making America the greatest of nations. 

Louisiana's RIVERS, BAYOUS and LAKES 
are mostly all navigable and many run north 
and south through the entire State. They fur- 
nish transportation facilities for many com- 
modities, and create competition in rates. They 
furnish water for irrigation, are deep running 
streams which abound in fish, and furnish cool 
water for stock. Every parish except four, 
can be reached by navigalbe streams at some 
period during the year. 

Louisiana's PRODUCTS make up an imposing 
total. Louisiana produces one million bales of 
cotton annually, and besides this, she produces 
95 per cent of all the cane sugars raised in the 
United States, and more rice than any other 
State of the Union. One parish in Louisiana 
raises more rice than all of South Carolina. 



L OU I SI A N A 



Greensburg, Business League 
Hammond, Progressive Union 
Jackson, Progressive Union 
Jeanerette, Progressive League 
Kaplan, Development Club 
Kentwood, Citizens League 
Lafayette, Progressive League 
Lake Charles, Board of Trade 
Lake Providence, Progressive League 
Leesville, Progressive League 
Mansfield, Progressive League 
Marksville, Progressive Union 
Minden, Progressive League 
Monroe, Progressive League 
Morgan City, Progressive League 
Napoleonville, Progressive League 
New Iberia, Board of Trade 
Pontchatoula, Progressive League 
Slidell, Progressive Union 
Shreveport, Progressive League 
St. Francisville, Progressive League 
St. Martinville, Progressive League 
Thibodaux, Progressive Union 
Villa Platte, Progressive I^eague 
Washington, Progressive League 
Waterproof, Business League 
West Monroe, Progressive League 
White Castle, Progressive League 
Winnfield, Progressive League. 

The Progressive Union is indebted to Hon. 
('harles Schuler, State Commissioner of Agri- 
culture and Commerce for material assistance 
in compiling the above data for publication. 



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